Cognitive Map of

Learning Theories
By: Miyuki

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 Slides 4-10: Context-Dependant Memory

Table of Contents Slides 11-24: Classical Conditioning

Slides 25-37: Operant Conditioning

A Quick Summary Slides 38-43: Self-Regulated Learning

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General Overview

1. Context-Dependant Memory

2. Classical Conditioning

3. Operant Conditioning

4. Self-Reguated Learning
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Context-Dependant Memory

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Context-Dependant Memory

Context dependant learning is an “idea at

what is learned in a given environment is
best recalled in that environment.”

➢ For example: if a student listens to music

while studying for test, they recall
information best if they also listen to music
during a test.

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The Beginning

Early research began in the 1930’s:

- Analyzed how the changes in

context affect an individuals
memory for “nonsense syllables”
- Early research was unable to
justify this learning theory

★ At the end of the 1970’s research

that was able to back up the
“nonsense syllables” experiment
began to appear in literature.

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Researchers and Their Experiments

Dallet & Wilcox (1968) Rand & Wapner (1967)

Performed an experiment Their experiment involved
where they “required [their] “strapp[ing] [their] subjects to a
subjects to stand with their board which was then rotated so as
heads inside an oddly shaped to keep the subject either supine or
box containing flashing lights erect.” (1975, Godden and
of different colours” (1975, Baddeley)
Godden and Baddeley)

(from the text given in class) 7

 Context-Dependant Memory in
Two Natural Environments: On
Land and Underwater
Researchers: Godden, D. R., & Baddeley, A. D. (1975)

Summary of the experiment:

Divers were given lists of words to memorize in two different

environments. These divers then recalled the words in either the
environment they learned in, or the opposite environment.

★ Results: The results of this experiment confirmed

context-dependant memory. Words learned underwater were
recalled significantly better underwater, and words learned
on land were recalled significantly better on land.

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https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1978-22375-001
 Extra Information

The disruption of moving from one enviroment to another was found by another
experiment to be an unlikely reason as to why context-dependant memory was proved in
this experiement.

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Some Extra Images
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Classical Conditioning

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Classical Conditiong

Definition: “a learning procedure in which

associations are made between a neutral
stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.”

➢ is an example of a *behaviourist
theory
➢ Examples: Teaching your pet
commands (such as sit, roll over,
shake a paw, etc.) by associating
certain actions (responses) with a
certain stimulus.

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The Beginning - Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936):

- Russian physiologist
- Father of “classical conditioning”

How The Discovery (of Classical Conditioning) Was Made:

- It was accidental
- He had been studying the process of digestion in dogs: wanted to see how a dog’s stomach prepares to digest
food when something is placed in its mouth, he noticed that the mere sight or smell of food was enough for a
hungry dog to start salivating
★ Pavlov became fascinated with how the dog anicipated the food and how salivation occured before the food
was presented, which led to his curiousity in what is now known as “classical conditioning”
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 ❏ Family wished he would become a priest but instead he pursued
science
❏ Recieved his doctoral degree from the University of St.Petersburg in
1897
❏ Began to perform his own research into digestion and blood
circulation, he become famous for his work with digestion
❏ Recieved a Nobel Prize for his research into digestion in 1904
❏ Pavlov distrusted the new science of psychiatry

★ Discovered: that salivation and the action of the stomach were closely
linked to reflexes in the autonomic nervous system (he did this by
studying conditioned reflexes and it became possible to examine
human behaviour objectively instead of resorting to subjective
methods)

His beliefs:
- Conditioned reflexes could explain the behaviour of psychotic people
- People who withdrew from the world may associate all stimuli with
possible injury or threat
Extra Pavlov Facts
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Quick Recap:

➢ Pavlov performed an experiment where he conditioned a dog in different ways to

create associations between a tuning fork and meat.

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 General Principals of Classical
Conditioning
Acquisition: Generalization and
Discrimination:
Of a classically conditioned
response generally occurs
Generalization: occurs when an
gradually. With each pairing of the
animal responds to a second stimulus
conditioned stimulus (CS) and the
similar to the original CS without
unconditioned stimulus (US), the
prior training with the second
conditioned response (CR)—or
stimulus
learned response—is strengthened.
Discrimination: the ability to respond
★ The timing of the
differently to different stimuli
association between the
conditioned stimulus (the
★ These two are complementary
tone) and the unconditioned
processes to each other. Both
stimulus (food) also
may occur spontaneously in
influences the learning
some situations, and both can
be taught in others 16
Warning: the next slide contains a
rapidly moving and repeating
pattern (gif)

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Extinction and Spontaneous
Recovery
“Pavlov discovered that if he stopped presenting food after the sound
of the tuning fork, the sound gradually lost its effect on the dog...After
he reapeatedly struck the tuning fork without giving food, the dog no
longer associated the sound with the arrival food—the sound of the
tuning fork no longer caused the salivation response” = “extinction”
(not this kind of extinction but…)
★ Found that this does not mean that the CR has been completely
unlearned

“If a rest period is given follwing extinction, the CR may reappear

when the CS is presented again but not followed by a US.” =
“spontaneous recovery”

★ However, this spontaneous recovery does not bring the CR to

original strength (Pavlov’s dogs produced less saliva than at the
end of their original conditioning)
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Classical Conditioning
and Human Behaviour
Experiment: Little Albert and the Rat

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John B. Watson and
Rosalie Rayner (1920)
and the Experiment

Question: what is the role of

conditioning in the development of
emotional responses in children?

Summary: An 11 month old infant was

used as a subject and the two scientists
attempted to condition this infant (“Little
In conclusion: this experiment provided
Albert”) to fear labratory rats. evidence that emotional reponses can be
classically conditioned in humans.
Albert played happily with the rats at first,
but then the scientists struck a steel bar Although this experiment was able to
with a hammer to produce a low sound, discover important conclusions, it also
which provoked a fear response from raises ethical concerns, and is considered to
Albert. Eventually, Albert displayed fear be an unethical experiment (because the
each time saw the rat despite the loud researchers taught Little Albert to fear
sound not being repeated or played. things he had previously no fear of)
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 John Garcia and R.A. Koelling

Taste Aversions (1966):

These two scientists first demonstrated

Negative New Food Experience(s): this phenomenon with lab rats by
placing these animals in a cage with
An example of a negative food experience with a tube containing flavoured water.
invoking classical conditioning is… Whenever a rat took a drink, lights
flashed and clicks sounded. Then, some
of the rats were given an electric shock
“You decidee to try an expensive apetizer you
after they drank. All these rats showed
have never eaten, for intance, snails. Then
traditional classical conditioning—the
suppose tat, after dinner, you go to a concert
lights and sounds become conditioned
and become violently ill. You will probably
stimuli, and the rats tried to avoid them
develop a taste aversion; you may never be
in order to avoid a shocked.
able to look at another snail without becoming
at least a nauseated. [This] nausea reaction to
snails is another example of classical The other rats were not shocked but
conditioning.” were injected with a drug that made
them sick after they drank and the
lights and sounds occured. These rats
This kind of classical conditioning is
developed an aversion not to the lights
interesting because despite the chance that the
or sounds but only to the taste of the
new food was not the cause, most will blame
flavoured water.
this factor and develop a hate for it.
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Real Life Applications and Helpful Uses
Gustavson et al., (1974) Coyotes and Sheep: How Classical Conditioning Aids Both
Humans and Animals:
Taste aversion was used in a study with coyote and sheep in
order to prevent any conflict between sheep and their farmers, ❏ Helps predict what will happen
and coyotes and naturalists. ❏ Provides information that may be helpful for survival
❏ May aid in the search for food (animals), and the
Sheep farmers were willing to use fatal force against coyotes avoidance of pain/injury (humans)
if they continued to threaten/kill their flocks, the naturalists
opposed this strongly. Example: Parents yelling “NO” to an infant when they get too
close to an outlet in order to condition them to avoid danger.
To create a peaceful solution for both parties, scientists This action startles the infant each time they approach an
performed a study where they injected coyotes with a drug outlet, thus creating a fear of the parent shouting each time
that made them sick when they ate sheep. This promoted the they are near an outlet, and eventually may even fear it when
coyotes move towards finding another natural food source. the parents are not around.

If the coyotes could learn to rely on other foods more, then a

peaceful coexistence with sheep was achieved.
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Examples of Common Conditioned Responses

CS (conditioned stimulus) CR (conditioned US (unconditioned stimulus) UR (unconditioned response)

response)

Dentist/sound of drill Tension Drill Tension

Product (soda pop) Favourable feeling Catchy jingle or Favourable feeling

slogan

Flashing police car Distress Speeding ticket Distress

lights

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 Behaviorism

Definition: “is the attempt to

understand behavior in terms of
relationships between observable
stimuli and observable responses.”

Behaviourists: “are psychologists

who study only those behaviors that
they can observe and measure.
Behaviorists are not concerned with
unobservable mental processes. They
empathize actions instead of
thought.”

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Operant Conditioning

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Operant Conditioning

Definition: “a form of learning in which a certain

action is reinforced or punished, resulting in
corresponding increases or decreases in the
likelihood that similar actions will occur again.”

Example: teaching your dog how to perform a skill

through rewards (treats, praise, etc.) and punishments
(no treats, negative comments, etc.).

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Burrhus Fredric (B.F.) Skinner

➔ American psychologist, behaviorist, author,

inventor, social philospher
➔ Psychologist most closely associated with
operant conditioning
➔ Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at
Harvard University from 1958 until his
retirement in 1974
★ Believed that most behaviour is influenced by
a person’s history of rewards and punishments.

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Skinner’s Box Through observing this behaviour, Skinner was able to identify three different
types of responses (operant’s):

Skinner’s Box is a box that “[w]ithin the

❏ Neutral Operants: responses from the environment that neither increase
chamber, there is usually a lever (for rats) nor decrease the probability of a behaviour being repeated.
or a key (for pigeons) that an individual
❏ Reinforcers: responses from the environment that neither increase the
animal can operate to obtain [a] food or
probability of a behaviour being repeated. Reinforcers can be either
water within the chamber as a reinforcer. positive or negative.
The chamber is connected to electronic
❏ Punishers: responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood
equipment that records the animal's lever of a behaviour being repeated. Punishment weakens behaviour. “
pressing or key pecking, thus allowing for (McLeod, 2018)
the precise quantification of behavior.”
(University of Iowa, (retrieved on March
10, 2020))

Sources

McLeod, S. (2018).
Skinner - Operant Conditioning.
Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

University of Iowa, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. (Retrieved on March

10, 2020). Skinner Box.
Retrieved from
https://psychology.uiowa.edu/comparative-cognition-laboratory/glossary/skinner-box
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Reinforcement
In the Skinner Box experiment the cup of
food is the reinforcer.

Reinforcement: can be defined as a Examples of

stimulus or event that increases the reinforcers that people
likelihood that the preceding behaviour usually respond to:
social approval,
will be repeated. Whether or not a
money, and extra
particular stimulus is a reinforcement privileges.
depends on the learner.

Whether or not a particular

stimulus is a reinforcement
depends on the effect the
stimulus has on the learner.
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Positive Reinforcement
The experiment: teaching your pet dog to shake a paw.

One way to teach: giving a treat to the dog each time

they perform the desired task, in this case, lifting its
paw at you.

Positive Reinforcer: the treat is the positive

reinforcer, and the dog will eventually learn the task
in order to get a reward.

Extinction: when you forget to reward your dog, it

will begin to stop performing the trick

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 Operant Conditioning
We do not just react to our
environment, we behave in
ways that seem designed to
produce certain environmental Behaviour
changes.

Positive Reinforcer Negative Reinforcer

Changed
For example, you flip the
Behaviour switch to illuminate a room,
you say, “Please pass the
salt,” to get the shaker, etc.
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Primary Reinforcers Secondary Reinforcers
A primary reinforcer is one that satisfies a biological A secondary reinforcer is one that has through
need such as hunger, thirst or sleep. classical conditioning has acquired value and the
ability to reinforce.

★ With conditioning, almost any stimulus can

acquire value and become a secondary
reinforcer.

Money is the best example of a secondary reinforcer in

human society. Other examples are praise, status, and
prestige.

All of these items are associated with a primary

reinforcer and have acquired value, so they reinforce
certain types of behaviour when they are earned.
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Wolfe (1996) and Chimpanzees
Poker chips have no value for chimpanzees. But by using operant and
classical conditioning he was able to teach chimpanzees to value poker chips
like humans value money.

Wolfe provied the chimpanzees with a ”Chimp-O-Mat” that dispensed

peanuts or bananas, which are primary reinforcers. In order to obtain food,
the chimps had to pull down on a heavily weighted bar to obtain poker chips,
then insert the chips in a slot in the machine.

With repitition, the poker chips became conditioned reinforcers. Their value
was evident from the fact that the chimpanzees would work for them, and
save them, and sometimes even try to steal from one another.

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Schedules of Reinforcement—Continuous Schedule
An important factor in operant conditioning is: the timing and frequency of reinforcement.

Behaviour that is reinforced every time it occurs is said to be on a continuous schedule of reinforcement.

A person or animal that is continously reinforced for a behaviour tends to maintain that behaviour only when the
reinforcement is given. If the reinforcement stops, the behaviour quickly undergos extinction.

For example: a rat learns to press a bar most rapidly when it recieves food each time it does so. When the rat stops
recieving food each time it presses the bar, however, it quickly stops its bar-pressing.

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Schedules of Reinforcement—Partial Schedule
Behaviours that acquirred on partial schedules of reinforcement are established more slowly but are more persistent.
When positive reinforcement occurs only intermittently, or on a partial schedule, the responses are generally more
stable and last longer once they are learned.

For example: a rat that is only sometimes rewarded with food for pressing a bar will continue to press even though
no food appears.

Rats and humans that are reinforced on partial schedules of reinforcement cannot always predict when the next
reinforcement will occur, so they learn to be persistant.

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Intermittent Reinforcement
Four Basic Methods of Intermittent Reinforcement:

Fixed-Ratio Schedule: a pattern of reinforcement in which a

specific number of correct responses is required before
reinforcement can be obtained.

Variable-Ratio Schedule: a pattern of reinforcement in which

an unpredictable number of responses is required before
reinforcement can be obtained each time.

Fixed-Interval Schedule: a pattern of reinforcement in which a

soecific amount amount of time must elapse before a response
will elicit reinforcement.

Variable-Interval Schedule: a pattern of reinforcement in

which changing amounts of time must elapse before a
response will obtain reinforcement.
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 Some Vocabulary/Extra Quick Facts
Shaping
Shaping is a technique in which the desired
Chaining (Response Chain)
behaviour is “molded” by first rewarding any act Response chain are learned reactions that follow one
similar to that behaviour and then requiring another in sequence, each reaction producing the
ever-closer approximations to the desired behaviour signal for the next.
before giving the reward.
Negative Reinforcement
Aversive Control Increasing the strength of a given response by
Is the process of influencing behaviour by means of removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the
unpleasant stimuli. response occurs.

Escape Conditioning Avoidance Conditioning

Training of an organism to remove or terminate an Training of an organism to respond so as to prevent
unpleasant stimulus. the occurance of an unpleasant stimulus.
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Self-Regulated Learning

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Self-Regulated Learning

Self-regulation, in the words of Zimmerman, “refers to

self-generated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are
oriented to attaining goals…[it] is not a mental ability or an
academic performance skill; rather it is the self-directive
process by which learners transform their mental abilities
into academic skills.” (Zimmerman, 2000)

What is meant by these words, is that self-regulation is an

umbrella term for multiple behaviors and personal
connections that help with goal setting and achieving, often
linked to efficient learning/studying.

Zimmerman, B. J. (2000) Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: An Overview

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 Barry J. Zimmerman

➔ Is an educational researcher
➔ Is the Professor of Educational
Psychology at the City University
of New York

“Over the past 20 years, Zimmerman and

★ Created a Self-Regulated Learning model (talked his colleagues have focused their efforts
about in the next slide) on applying self-regulation to the
academic achievement challenges faced by
I
Maybe many underprepared high school and
uld try the
sho
odel... college students.”
SRL m

- Professor Howard Everson, Ph.D., City

University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center

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Three Points of Self-Regulated Learning

❏ Forethought: There are two major classes of this phase ❏ Self-Reflection: The self-reflection phase is a phase
process: task analysis (goal setting and strategic planning) that involves: self-judgement (self-evaluation, causal
and self-motivation (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, attribution) and self-reaction (self-satisfaction/affect,
intrinsic interest/value, and learning goal orientation). adaptive/defensive).

Example: Planning ahead and studying for a test a week beforehand. Example: Checking in which yourself, motivating yourself before a
test, reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses.

❏ Performance: The performance phase includes: The Differences: The difference between each of these phases
self-control (imagery, sef-instruction, attention focusing, is that forethought involves looking to the future, performance is the
task strategies) and self-observation (self-recording, present, and self-reflection involves reflecting on your past.
self-experimentation).
Though different, these three phases are interlocking and work
Example: Assessing and trying different methods of studying to see together to create efficiency and results.
which is most efficient.

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 An Example of Self-Regulated
a) Learning b) c)

Learning how to: play a musical piece on my flute

a) Forethought: decide which bars to learn to play up to for each practice session, read through to find any notes I do not
know, and motivate myself to practice consistently (i.e. everyday for an hour). Also listen to an audio of the piece to better
understand it.

b) Performance: Analyze where I have difficulties, envision myself playing through the song (image training), record myself
playing the piece to learn to critique it and see what went well and what needs more work and work on those parts for longer
(and work on the details, such as dynamics, intonation, etc.).

c) Self-Reflection: Take a video of myself playing through the whole piece, reflect on it, and perform it (and later judge my
own playing: i.e. what can I improve for next time, etc.). 42
Extra Images/Information
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 The End
Hope you enjoyed
: ))

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